Comments on: How to Stop Annoying “Restart” Prompt after Windows Updates

By: vivia

vivia — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 19:30:50 +0000

No kidding, 30 seconds? When I am work and I have 8-10 applicaitons opened, most of them with passworded logons and the network, it takes at least five minutes

By: Andy Williams

Andy Williams — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 14:10:28 +0000

Good tip. It has the definite advantage that you don’t need to remember any commands. For those with better memories that me a quick alternative is:

Press Windows+R. Type “net stop wuauserv” in the box (leave out the quote marks). Press ‘Enter’

Also I just came across the little app “Leave Me Alone” that claims to do the same thing (http://tinyurl.com/3ry5xd)

By: Pat

Pat — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 12:43:37 +0000

Depresso said “Why not simply restart the computer and be done with it? What does it take, a whole 30 seconds.

30 Seconds? Seriously? I haven’t timed it but I’m going to say 4-5 minutes to reboot, reload Outlook, etc…

By: Peter

Peter — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 01:34:16 +0000

You really shouldn’t delay the reboot. There are numerous article out there about exactly why and all the technical details, but the main point is that when the system requires a reboot, it is generally because it can’t update files that are in use. So some of the needed files have been updated and some have not. This leaves the machine in an unstable state where some files are of different versions and the system may expect things to happen that don’t.
Just reboot and be done with it. Putting it off for too long as asking for problems.

By: Nick

Nick — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 02:32:05 +0000

Haha, This is awesome, lets hope Microsoft doesn’t find out about this and then create a patch for it!

Good idea though!

By: Sean vater

Sean vater — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 21:17:41 +0000

I use a little program called “Leave Me Alone!’ its the same concept I suppose, works well….
http://www.persistenceunlimited.com/2008/06/freeware-turn-off-windows-update-restart-nag/

By: pariah

pariah — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 20:14:22 +0000

The problem that I have found with the â€œRestartâ€ Prompt is that if it is left unanswered, it will automatically reboot the system, no matter what you have running. This has ruined a number of projects that I had running unattended. Do you have a fix for this?

By: newbieworks

newbieworks — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 20:13:12 +0000

You can simply open gpedit.msc (Windows Group Policy Editor) and you can disable under Administrative Templates. This allows you to disable it all together, or make it nag you less often. I don’t want to restart if I’m in the middle of a file transfer or burning a disc, or anything else where you would have to restart the entire process. If you have XP Home (which I don’t think has gpedit) you can download Microsoft’s enormous spreadsheet and look for the right key to change in the registry.

By: Mark

Mark — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 19:42:53 +0000

Here’s a better way: http://lifehacker.com/software/top/get-rid-of-windows-update-restart-nag-183976.php

You modify the local security policy to remind you once a day to reboot versus once every 5 minutes, or whatever the default is.

By: Rachelia

Rachelia — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 19:29:55 +0000

Thank you so much! I agree that it is one of the most annoying features of Windows. Actually, I was just wondering if this was possible the other day. Again, thanks!